Running Out of Time
by Strictly Classified
Summary: Amy Pond wasn't the only one with a crack in the wall of her bedroom. 1992 - The Doctor visits Number 4 Privet Drive to see that the aftermath of reality collapsing has somehow transferred itself to the wall of the bedroom of a twelve-year-old Harry Potter. (pre-The Pandorica Opens)
1. Chapter 1

A/N: My first Harry Potter fic. Please R&R! Constructive criticism is not only welcomed, but encouraged!

* * *

Harry Potter was playing a game. He called it count-the-number-of-tiny-cracks-in-the-ceiling-and-use-Divination-to-predict-when-the-entire-roof-will-collapse. So far, he'd gotten to 582. Downstairs, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were entertaining their business partners, Mr. and Mrs. Mason. He could hear high-pitched giggling coming from their general direction and hoped it hadn't been emitted from Dudley's mouth.

"Petunia's been dying to tell you about that American plumber joke!" Vernon rumbled. His wife tittered in response.

Harry tuned them out and was planning on falling asleep, until his stomach let out a growl. He sighed, and wondered if he could sneak into the kitchen for a midnight snack after the Masons left.

The rest of the evening passed in relative uneventfulness. Occasionally, Harry could hear some forced laughter and idle chit-chat, but he supposed that was how dinners with a boss went. After all, at least he hadn't caused an uproar by showing up downstairs, making any suspicious noises, or using his magic. He rather thought he should be proud of himself.

Soon enough, there was a round of goodbyes and polite farewells, and Vernon's feet began their thudding and predictable path up the stairs. He stood in the doorway of Harry's room and gave Harry what could only be described as a pleased glare.

"Boy," he said gruffly, "tomorrow you'll be mowing and watering the lawn. Don't use your freaky powers in front of the neighbors or you'll regret it."

Without waiting for an answer, Vernon stomped away, and Harry found himself nodding at the wall. When he realized that, he stopped nodding quite quickly. He got up, turned out the lights, and tucked himself in.

Slowly but surely, the lights in the Dursley house all blinked out as the breathing of its occupants slowed, asleep. By midnight, the entire neighborhood was shrouded in an overall uniform darkness.

* * *

Harry blinked woozily as the weird whooshing noise got louder. He pulled the blanket over his ears, but a bluish light permeated his eyelids. Why wouldn't that car just drive away? Then, he sat up in the covers, finally awake. He strained his ears as the whooshing blessedly softened. That certainly wasn't a noise that a car could make.

He stood up, turned the door handle quietly, and tiptoed down the stairs. As he reached the front door, he glanced down at the doormat out of habit; he was still spooked by the time last year when he had stepped on Uncle Vernon's face.

Outside, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. The streetlamps were benevolently glowing beacons out in the gloom, no one was peeking suspiciously into the road like he was, and there was no car with blue headlights. Harry was almost willing to go inside and out of the cold until _It_ caught his eye.

There was something abnormal on his street. For on the corner nearest to Number 4 Privet Drive, there was a box. Not a cardboard box, but a blue box.

A blue police call box.

Harry walked barefoot halfway onto the street just to get a better view as to what was going on. The doors to the police box burst open and a myriad colors of light shafted onto the ground. Yellows, blues, greens and purples.

"You told me you'd take me to a planet!" a feminine voice exclaimed from inside.

"This is a planet. Earth's a planet!"

"Yes, but…"

There were two people on the street with Harry now. One was a ruffled, dark-brown haired man wearing a brownish jacket and a red bowtie. The other was a young red-haired woman who looked oddly familiar. They both gaped at Harry, who gaped back.

"Mum?"

* * *

"Er...," Harry's 'mom' trailed off, not knowing how to kindly break to the little boy that she was not his mother.

Obviously, as in all uncomfortable situations, Mr. Bowtie (as Harry had dubbed him) knew exactly how to make things better. Though if you asked 'Mum' she'd say that he only knew how to mess things up.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Mr. Bowtie walked over to Harry confidently, bent down, and looked into his eyes. Then, he licked his right index finger and stuck it in the air, as though it would tell him something. It certainly did appear to do so. "It's in the 1800s, isn't it?" he asked. Harry shook his head numbly. "1850s? No, not even close? Early 2100s? 1960s? I'm getting warm, aren't I?"

"It's 1992," Harry said, finally having unstuck his mouth and overcome his initial shock.

"Oh," Bowtie responded. "So that means you're Harry Potter?"

"Yes, I am," Harry frowned. "How do you know who I am? Are you a wizard too?"

"A wizard of sorts. We travel in time and space, bending the fabric of the very universe with the TARDIS," Bowtie answered and tried to smile mysteriously, but ended up looking silly instead.

"Glamorous much?" 'Mum' remarked dryly.

"So who exactly are you?" Harry asked, looking at the strangers who had arrived in a box.

"I'm the Doctor," Bowtie replied with a hint of pride.

"I'm Amy Pond," 'Mum' said, and Harry's face fell.

"How do you know me? And why are you here? Surely if you can travel in 'time and space' you'd be wherever you wanted to be, and this place isn't exactly important," Harry questioned, turning to the Doctor.

"I already know you, you don't know me, but you will know me," the Doctor smiled, and Harry's head spun. "As for why we're here, that's a question we can't answer now, but will answer when we have enough data. In other words, we don't know either and we're just trying to confuse you so you think we know even though we don't really know. Will you invite us in?"

"I don't think I should. The Dursleys are sleeping and I don't want to wake them up."

"Then you can come in," the Doctor grinned, taking it all in stride. Harry glanced at the box doubtfully. It might be a TARDIS, whatever that was, but it didn't look very big. "Lemon drop?" the Doctor asked, holding out a sweet. He winked, as if this was an inside joke.

"What about me? Lemon drop for me?" Amy cried, pouting.

"No thanks," Harry declined.

"That's a shame," the Doctor pocketed the sweet. "You'll like them so much when you're thirty-six."

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Review if you like it! :) Constructive criticism is welcome.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is the Lady of all things Harry Potter and I am a mere lowly subject who can hope to emulate her. :)

* * *

**Chapter 2**

The inside of the TARDIS was... mind-blowing. A soft crimson gold light seemed to glow from its inner recesses and various scientific gizmos and gadgets were embedded in the circular platform that surrounded a central tower. Harry's first thought was...

"Mr. Weasley would love this place."

The Doctor and Amy exchanged shocked glances. Well, Amy's eyes widened and the Doctor raised his eyebrows. They had been expecting the somewhat trite and cliche "It's bigger on the inside!" exclamation.

"Wow!" Harry turned on the spot, eyes struggling to take in everything around him. He thought vaguely that he was suffering from a sensory overload. "What charms did you use to make this place? Do you think I could make something like this?"

The Doctor gaped at him for a moment before jumping to business.

"Okay, why am I here? Why am I here?" he paced frustratedly around the TARDIS's wire framed balcony, flicking on a variety of machines while he was at it. Then, as if he had hit an epiphany, he jumped down and grabbed Harry's arm with a sort of nervous energy, running his sonic screwdriver in the air above it. "You didn't summon me here, did you? DID YOU?" he asked angrily, shaking Harry roughly.

"Wha-?" Harry choked out, surprised and afraid for a moment that the Doctor might genuinely hurt him.

The Doctor looked into Harry's eyes and seemed to see evidence of innocence there. "Right, then, it's not you." He turned away quickly, appearing to lose interest.

Amy frowned. "He's weird but he's never done that before," she confided, whilst Harry closed his gaping mouth and tried not to seem as shaken as he looked.

The Doctor, leaning against his instruments, came to a conclusion in his internal debate. Muttering under his breath, he smiled humorlessly at Harry and stated, "Well, it looks like you'll be inviting us in after all."

* * *

Harry felt it was odd that the Dursleys didn't even stir at the loud whooshing noise that the TARDIS emitted when it landed in his room, but he supposed it might have a Notice-Me-Not charm or some other hiding mechanism.

Amy said not to worry about it because normal people didn't want to notice the TARDIS, deep down, because its very existence would refute most of the principles they took for granted. The Doctor said the TARDIS had a Perception Filter. Personally, Harry was confused.

When they finally came out, the Doctor gravitated towards an strange crack that had been on Harry's wall for as long as he could remember. Amy gasped when she saw it, and cried, "Doctor, that's the-"

"Shh, Amy," the Doctor whispered calmly but firmly, leaning against the wall and putting his ear to it. He took out his sonic screwdriver again and inspected the crack. "Oh, so that's why she brought me here," he said wonderingly. "But how can it be? I thought it was only at one point..."

"Who? What's going on?" Harry asked nervously. Two strangers were in his bedroom, and as the moments passed, they seemed more and more like nutcases. Uncle Vernon was constantly going on about hippies and drunks out on the streets. Harry had to admit that these people were not very likely to be wizards at all; neither was wearing robes and no one had taken out a wand.

"I'm really very sorry, Harry Potter," said the Doctor, finally turning around to gaze at him in an odd mixture of pity, sadness, and thoughtfulness.

"Why? What? Huh?" Harry spat out, baffled and annoyance level shooting up by the second. He was sure that if he was Uncle Vernon, a vein in his forehead would be throbbing by now and his face would be a shade of puce. As it was, he looked like he was blushing.

"This crack has been eating away at your life for quite a while now. But it's interesting how you haven't been fodder for it yet. It's almost like it's... protecting you."

"What's protecting me? From what?" Harry finally shouted. Downstairs, Vernon Dursley let out a grunt in his sleep. For a minute, the Doctor, Amy, and Harry were completely silent.

Then the Doctor sat down on the bed and stared off into space. "Of course," he mumbled. "Should have seen it earlier!"

"You'd better tell me what you're on about now, or I'll... um, er, you'll regret it!" Harry threatened.

"If only I had a penny for every time I've heard that," the Doctor pondered, temporarily amused.

"Explain," Amy demanded, flopping down on the bed next to the Doctor. "What is going on?"

The Doctor sobered. "Something went wrong tonight."

"What? Elucidate," Harry prompted. He smirked; "elucidate" was a word Hermione used a lot when she was checking his and Ron's essays.

"Tonight wasn't supposed to happen this way. I'm not supposed to be here. Ah, wait, you said it was 1992?" the Doctor asked. Harry nodded impatiently. "Tonight, Dobby was supposed to pop into your room, drop a pudding on your aunt and uncle's guests, and cause you to perform magic outside Hogwarts, causing your uncle to lock you up and the Weasleys to help you escape, resulting in you spending the rest of your summer at Ottery St. Catchpole."

"What's Dobby?" Amy interrupted.

"Is that all you got?" the Doctor sniped. "A Malfoy House Elf, but that's not important."

"Malfoy?" Harry gasped.

"Yes, now shut up and listen. But that didn't happen. Instead, Dobby never made it here. No, it's wrong to say that. Dobby did make it here; you just don't remember him."

"What happened to him?" Harry frowned. "And why can't I remember?"

"I'm getting to that. The crack took him."

"Are you being bloody serious?" Harry started laughing hysterically. "A crack. A crack in a wall, my wall, ate a House Elf. Boo hoo, what's coming next? Pants that run away from you?"

"If you would stop being so immature for one second," the Doctor grumbled. "You really don't change through the years, do you?" Harry stopped sniggering. "The thing is, the crack has been protecting you from harm for so many years. Twelve, to be precise."

"From what?" Harry asked. "Dumbledore said I have protection from my mother. No one can hurt me at Privet Drive."

"Exactly. _No one_," the Doctor repeated, stretching the last sentence. "Notice, you didn't say_ nothing_."

"Well, chairs and tables certainly can't hurt me, can they?" Harry burst into a fit of laughter, but stopped quickly, frowning again. "What are you looking at?" The Doctor was staring at something over Harry's head, but detached himself from it and gazed down.

"Yes, but people aren't the only things that can hurt you. Sontarans, Atraxi, Slitheen, Dalek...," he counted off on his fingers.

"Doctor," Amy whispered.

"Later, Amy," the Doctor mumbled back.

"Doctor, this is urgent," Amy said more loudly.

The Doctor looked up, ready to snap back, but didn't say anything. He simply gaped at something over Harry's head, for the second time.

"Oh," he said rather redundantly. "They're back."

"What?" Harry griped. He was getting tired of repeating himself. "It's only a statue, probably Dudley's idea of a prank. Just leave it."

The Doctor's eyes widened as he glanced between the statue and Harry. "No, it's most definitely real." Amy was shaking. "Was it there when we came in?"

"No, Doctor. I don't think so, but we might not have noticed," Amy replied, backing away from the statue.

"Now I know you're drunk," Harry said, "to be scared of a stupid statue."

"It's not just a statue. It's a Lonely Assassin. This is what I meant when I-" Amy, the Doctor, and Harry coincidentally blinked at the exactly same moment.

"How did it move?" Harry asked. The statue's hands had fully descended from its face and were pointing in the general direction of Harry and the Doctor.

"You need to get in the TARDIS now," the Doctor ordered. "No questions," he added as he saw Harry's mouth open.

"We can't," Amy sighed despondently as she flung open the TARDIS doors. "It's not a TARDIS anymore."

And surely enough, where the magnificent expanded interior of the TARDIS used to be was the inside of a regular police phone box, blue wooden walls and all. Harry, Amy, and the Doctor rushed to see the phenomenon.

"What happened to everything?" Harry wondered aloud.

"No idea. The last time this happened- but that was different. There was a paradox. Someone is interfering with the TARDIS. Maybe sealed it off in a pocket universe," hypothesized the Doctor.

"Wait," Amy interjected, trying to work something out. "If the Doctor is here, and I'm here, and Harry's here, who's looking at the angel?"

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A/N: Hopefully an ok cliffhanger... Please Read and Review! :) for imaginary pixellated chocolate chip cookies!

Thanks to:

**Guest** - Thanks a lot :)

**Melikalilly** - Thank you *blushes*

**Piffzzz** - Tried to add something more, this time. Tell me if it works out, yeah?

**RandomW** - Thanks for liking my cliffhanger. I didn't think it was that good... :)

**Lahel** - Haha, it made me laugh too while I was writing that part

**Nataly SkyPot** - Gracias!

Remember, R&R! And have a great day! :) Bye!


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